Wild rice and cranberry dishes show up on many restaurant menus, especially in autumn, but rare is the restaurant that regularly serves fry bread or venison in Wisconsin.

I dine at many types of ethnic and specialty restaurants but have yet to see one devoted to Native American cuisine. Is this a gaping hole in our culinary offerings or proof of not enough interest to successfully frame a restaurant this way?

Native American Tourism of Wisconsin this month presented its first cooking contest with a winner-take-all prize of $500 and a two-night hotel stay. Six entrants filled Nesco roasters with venison stew, corn soups, salt pork stew with dumplings, berry-rich porridge and more.

“We want to share these healthy, delicious, sustainable foods with everyone, in their traditional form or perhaps with a contemporary twist.”

Oneida chef Arlie Doxtator of 4 Winds Food Service says Native American cooking continues to evolve. “Chili didn’t come from the cowboys,” he observes, and it is the same with baked beans, barbecued meats and other examples of outdoor cooking that we take for granted.

Contest winner Kathy Ciskoski of Menomonee Falls credits her mother, Val Goodwill, for having enthusiasm to cook and experiment with indigenous ingredients. Her stuffed wild rice balls, served on lettuce with a cranberry vinaigrette, were accompanied with thyme-flavored fry bread served with a sweet, berry butter.

Judges included Dave Anderson, founder of the Famous Dave’s barbecue restaurant empire. He declared the entry “colorful and creative, with a lot of energy and passion to it.”

Although Kathy works as a community relations specialist at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, Milwaukee, she says her recipes were “in no way developed with a chef there or affiliated with the restaurants at Potawatomi at this time.”

Public events

NATOW, a consortium of Wisconsin’s 11 tribal communities, lists powwows, other public events and cultural attractions at nativewisconsin.com.

Some powwows are traditional and ceremonial. Others are competitions with prize money, and one of the biggest is the July 4-6 Oneida Contest Powwow at Norbert Hill Center, N7210 Seminary Rd., Oneida. At least $84,000 in prize money will be awarded.

Visit exploreoneida.com to learn more or call 800-236-2214.

Cultural museum

The Oneida Nation, near Green Bay, operates a cultural museum at W892 Highway EE, De Pere, and grounds contain a woodsy nature trail with medicinal plants identified and re-creations of a traditional longhouse and runner’s hut. For more information, call 800-236-2214.

Oneida Market, 501 Packerland Drive, Green Bay, sells grassfed beef and bison raised on tribal farmland. Also for sale are herbal remedies, teas and other tribal products. Call 920-496-5127 to find out more about it.

All “Roads Traveled” columns are archived at roadstraveled.com. These articles began in 2002 and are the result of anonymous travel, independent travel, press trips and travel journalism conferences. What we choose to cover is not contingent on subsidized or complimentary travel. Your column feedback and ideas are welcome. Write to Midwest Features, P.O. Box 259623, Madison, WI 53725 or mary@roadstraveled.com.

Stuffed wild rice balls

Here is Kathy Ciskoski’s winning recipe for stuffed wild rice balls. They were first presented at an event for co-workers. Use beef broth for liquid when preparing the wild rice, she advises.

Makes 5-6 servings.

Filling

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1/2 pound ground venison

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Olive oil, for sauteeing

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1/2 cup beef broth

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1/4 cup Shiraz red wine

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Salt and pepper, to taste

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8 ounces cremini and portobello mushrooms, chopped fine

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Butter, as needed

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4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

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1 small sweet onion, chopped fine

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1 3/4 cups cooked wild rice, drained

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2 poblano peppers, roasted and chopped fine

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Nutmeg, freshly ground, to taste

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3-4 cups canola oil, for frying

Breading

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1 1/2 cup flour

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4-5 eggs, beaten

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1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Instructions

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Cook venison in frying pan with olive oil. Add beef broth, wine, salt and pepper. Braise until all liquid is gone and venison is tender. Set aside.

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Sauté mushrooms in olive oil and butter until brown. Add thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside in a large bowl, separate from venison.

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Sauté onions in olive oil and butter until caramelized. Add to mushrooms and combine. Add cooked rice and peppers. Season with nutmeg and stir well.

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Spoon 1/3 cup of wild rice mixture into your hand. Add venison into the center. Form into a little cake. Keep doing this until all filling ingredients are used (making five or six cakes).

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Dredge each cake with flour, dip into eggs and coat with bread crumbs.